German schools ban Muslim head scarves

A German court today upheld a ban on Muslim teachers wearing head scarves in the schools of a German state under a law that says teachers' attire must be in line with 'Western Christian' values.

A Berlin-based Islamic group had complained about the law, which authorities in the conservative-run state of Bavaria have used to ban head scarves while allowing Roman Catholic nuns to continue to wear their habits in schools.

However, the Bavarian Constitutional Court ruled today that the application of the law in the southern state neither violated religious freedoms nor was discriminatory.

Under Germany's federal system of government, education is almost totally under the control of authorities in its 16 states. Authorities in several of them, including Baden-Wuerttemberg and Hesse, have introduced similar head scarf bans.

A lawyer for the Islamic Religious Community, the plaintiff in the Munich case, said some of its members were considering an appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court, Germany's highest.

Conservative politicians welcomed the verdict.

An Islamic head scarf represented a "deliberate separation from western values, and that is not compatible with our constitution", Wolfgang Bosbach, a federal lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, said on N24 television.

The Bavarian law, introduced in November 2004, forbids teachers from wearing during lessons clothes or other items that seem to express views "incompatible with the basic values of the constitution and its educational goals including western Christian educational and cultural values".

Judge Karl Huber insisted the Bavarian law did not favour the Christian faith. But because teachers must transmit the values of the constitution, the religious feelings of students and parents must be considered, the court said.

Albin Dannhaeuser, head of the Bavarian teachers association, said he hoped the ruling would put an end to political debate about religion in the state's schools. He said there are currently only two Muslim female teachers in Bavaria, both of whom wear hats to sidestep the head scarf ban.